1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector able to be securely attached to a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of Prior Art
As a next generation personal computer (PC) storage interface, Serial ATA will replace the Ultra ATA/100 interface used to connect most PCs to their primary storage, which is projected to become a bottleneck in the future. The Serial ATA connector is equipped with a board retaining device so that it can securely assembled to a printed circuit board (PCB).
As it is known that there are numerous ways to configure the board retaining device. For example, the electrical connector may be provided with mounting ears having bores for accepting threaded mounting bolts which extend through corresponding apertures of the PCB and are secured by nuts on a bottom side of the board.
In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,963 and 5,213,515 disclose a top loaded board lock for mounting an electrical connector on a PCB. The electrical connector includes a housing and a pair of board locks. The housing includes a board mounting surface and an opposite surface. The board locks are inserted into flanges or other portion of the housing from the opposite surface. When mounting such electrical connectors to a PCB, it is necessary to use a tool to apply force directly to the board locks thereby inserting the board locks into the circuit board apertures so that the board locks will not move backwardly out of the connector housing. Such an operation is inconvenient. It is desirable, therefore, to have a board lock that is self-retained in the housing.
One such approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,870 wherein a first portion of a board lock is captured in a slit of the housing and a second portion of the board lock is inserted into an aperture of the PCB. The portions are provided with barbs. A portion of the housing above the slit provides a backing surface for the board lock during mounting the electrical connector on the PCB.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,349 discloses a further approach in which the housing includes an integrally molded post for being received in an aperture of a PCB. The post has a slit in which a resilient retaining member can be inserted from a direction that is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the post. The housing provides a backing surface for the retaining member when the connector or other component is mounted on the PCB. A disadvantage of this type of retaining member is that a core pin is required to form the housing and post configuration, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the connector. The assembly of the connector requires additional steps since the terminal members and the retaining member are inserted into the housing along different directions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,863,222 and 5,827,089 disclose a retaining member which is inserted into an insulative housing along a same direction as terminals thereof. However, the retaining member has no self-retaining means and may be separated from the connector.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional electrical connector.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved board locks for securely mounting the electrical connector on a PCB.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved board locks which are convenient for assembly.
In order to achieve the objects above-mentioned, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals received in the insulative housing and a pair of board locks. The insulative housing comprises a crossbeam and two arms extending perpendicularly from opposite ends of the crossbeam. Each of the arms defines a slit for receiving the board lock and a pair of channels communicating with the slit. The board lock comprises a main body received in the slit and a pair of downward extending legs for engaging with a mating PCB. The main body comprises a barb for engaging with a bottom wall of the slit and a pair of bent tabs engaging in the channels; therefore, the board locks are securely self-retained in the insulative housing. In addition, the board locks are assembled in the insulative housing from a rear-to-front direction which is the same as the terminals, therefore, the board locks is convenient for automated assembly.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.